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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



An iron railing separated these simple maids of the 

 milking-pail from the more thoroughbred occupants of 

 the park. Old Spiceij stood ruminating under an oak, 

 and bearing even in her old age all the stamp of a fine 

 cow, with the true Booth head, and horns rather droop- 

 ing; and near her, by virtue of true Scottish clansliip, 

 was Rose of Promise, by Heir-at-Law from Rose of 

 Autumn, a two-year-old heifer of great length, and 

 well-ribbed up, and purchased for 275 gs. at the South- 

 wicke sale. Mistress Mary, by Baron Warlaby from 

 a Royal Buck cow, was there, in the shape of a light 

 roan cow, with not much Booth character about her ; 

 but Magnolia, by Majestic from a Vanguard dam, an 

 150-guinea purchase at three months, took our fancy 

 not a little. Perhaps she wants size ; but when her neat 

 fine bone, her sweet head and horn, and remarkably 

 gentle eye, to say nothing of her nice dark-roan coat 

 and handling, are set against it, the objections become 

 remarkably small. Her breast is very good, but hardly 

 forward enough. The twins. Red Rose and Flojver of 

 May, can be better gauged by the pail than by the eye, 

 but the latter produced a prize-winning calf at Redcar 

 in '59. Then we came on our old Westland friend, 

 Victoria, by Hopewell from Britannia by Albion, 

 but we had never seen her out of the house before, and 

 we had completely forgotten her. She is a true, well- 

 made cow, and looks like a bull-breeder. In point of 

 size, the level fine-loined Lady Sarah, by Baron War- 

 laby, bought at Mr. Ambler's sale, quite overpowered 

 her, and is, in fact, quite the largest in the herd. Three 

 firsts and two seconds make up the sum total of her 

 winnings so far, and her Ladye iElfrida began to copy 

 her very early, both at Keighley and Skipton. Standing 

 near the hedge was Woodnymph, a daughter of Sir 

 Samuel, whose roan stock seem to carry their distinc- 

 tive mark very much more than the white. She was 

 bred by Mr. John Booth, and has five Booth crosses in 

 her, going back to Leonard. Her shoulders are nice, 

 but she has been delicate, owing to the loss of her calf, 

 which was found dead in the park by the under- 

 herdsman when Ward was away at the shows. Casla- 

 net, who is very neat about the head and shoulders, has 

 also paid the penalty in her looks for early fecundity, as 

 when she was very little above three years old she 

 had produced three calves, two of them twin bulls. 

 There was no mistaking the paternity of Pride of the Val- 

 ley from Baroness Warlaby ; a well-grown thick heifer 

 by Lord of the Valley, with a chubby head, rather plain 

 in the quarters, and a little upright in her shoulders. 

 Cherry Empress, by Captain Balco from Imperial 

 Cherry, retired from public life after she had won one 

 first prize at Ipswich ; and she and Cherry Queen by 

 Heir-at-Law, a great-grandson of the famous Bracelet, 

 were difficult to whip apart, the one having the pull in 

 her forequarters, and the latter in her head, which her 

 ladyship compares to her dam Birthright's. The heavy- 

 fleshed, plain-quartered Violet was a remarkable cow, 

 gaudy in her roan, and robust rather than elegant in her 



frame and htad, but still of a stamp that the eye too 

 seldom rests on. Isabella Hopewell, with her horns 

 curved and almost ilush to the forehead, has nothing 

 like her companion's proportions, with good substance 

 Bnd quality, and is becoming patchy with her tenth 

 summer ; and Ladybird, of a grand old Fitzleonard 

 tribe, and only spoilt by her Sir Thomas (13740) cross, 

 was all to pieces with milking, and could only plume 

 herself on an immense udder. 



And so, from the meadows, we found ourselves, after 

 a couple of hundred yards' walk down the lane, at the 

 farmstead. Here new actors oame on for an interlude, 

 in the shape of the two Suffolk sires, and the cart-team, 

 present and to come, among which the place of honour 

 clearly belonged to a bay mai'e by Catlin's Duke, out 

 of a Clydesdale mare (a combination which, to the dis- 

 gust of the " pure Suffolk" men, generally comes bay), 

 and a winner of first prizes at the Bath and West of 

 England and Norwich. She unites very remarkable 

 neatness and substance — so much so, that Sir Joseph 

 Hawley has offered a long sum, in order to cross her 

 with Musjid or Beadsman. Hitherto, she has had no such 

 ambition, as the clever foal at her side was by Badham's 

 Emperor, and Newcastle Captain claimed to be sire of 

 mare No. 2, The van which was made at Stamford for 

 £b(i, after her ladyship's plan, and contains standing- 

 room for two cows and a calf in front, was drawn out, 

 after its winter siesta in the barn, to receive its Dublin 

 charges. John Ward seems to have taken his car- 

 pentering cue from the interior, as the whole of the first 

 stable we entered was fitted up to correspond, with 

 boxes for the calves in front of their nurses. Little 

 Victoria Rcgja, by British Prince from Victoria, was 

 making the most of her opportunities, and showing her 

 neat little head to perfection in her efforts. Next 

 her, and destined probably for the Show Yards, was 

 Lily Maiden, from Baroness, very gay and clever, and 

 with more substance than either Victoria Regia or White 

 Lady, from Lady Bird, which had an eye as black as a 

 Spanish maiden's. British Prince, Sir Roger, and Va- 

 lasco, were all represented here ; and in a dark corner, 

 hardly well enough, after a recent calving, to give a re- 

 ception, was the three-year-old Hermione, a daughter 

 of Majestic. In fact, it was Booth htre. Booth 

 there, and Booth everywhere, inside ; and we only 

 got to the outside again to encounter Lady Gran- 

 dison and La Valliere, two daughters of Gainford 

 5th, of "grand old Cherry blood." As yet, Lady 

 Grandison (grand-daughter of the ancient Bonnet) has 

 bred no Prince Talleyrand, like her half-sister ; but in 

 all the incidents of birth, there is a remarkable agree- 

 ment in their horoscopes. Both are from Royal Buck 

 cows, and both were bred by the late Mr. John Booth 

 in October, 1855, and are in-calf to the same bull, al- 

 though purchased from different persons. Lady Grandi- 

 son is a lengthy cow, with a peculiarly rich, mossy coat, 

 and handles delightfully. Her head is rather of the 

 Rose of Athelstane type, but with the horns not quite so 



